EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsFRISCO, Texas -- Looking for ways to improve a defense that is currently 31st in yards and 26th in points allowed through five games, the Dallas Cowboys are bringing in long-time NFL coach Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant to work with defensive coordinator Christian Parker."It's something we've been talking about for a long time," head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. "I think as we looked at everything, we had a chance to convince Pett that it made sense for him. I think he's excited about coming in and adding experience and value. The most important thing for us was making sure we got the right guy, and I feel very, very confident that we did."Parker approached Pettine, 60, about joining the staff in a similar role after he was hired in January, but Pettine had just announced his retirement. Schottenheimer said the move would have been made even if the Cowboys had beaten the previously-winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Thursday.From 2022-25, Pettine served as assistant head coach with the Minnesota Vikings. Prior to spending the 2021 season with the Chicago Bears as a senior defensive assistant, Pettine had a four-year run as the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator.In 2019, Pettine gave Parker his first NFL job as a quality control coach. Schottenheimer and Pettine were on Rex Ryan's staff with the New York Jets.Parker, 34, is in his first year as a defensive coordinator after eight years of NFL experience. From 2024-25, he was the Philadelphia Eagles passing game coordinator under Vic Fangio. While players have lauded his communication and system, the production has not followed.The Cowboys have the worst-ranked run defense (168.4 yards per game) and opposing quarterbacks have completed 72.3% of their passes against the Cowboys. The Cowboys have yet to record an interception and have just five sacks so far.Four of the Cowboys' five opponents have had season-highs in yardage and the team has given up at least 20 points in the last 12 games, dating back to last year, which is tied for the longest streak in team history.Pettine can be a sounding board for Parker."The other thing that's important is when you're not coaching a position, it frees you up to do a lot of other things," Schottenheimer said. "You're very holistic in your approach when you're not coaching a position. You're able to really study the league and the trends and how we want to adjust versus this and how we want to handle that. And so again, I think it worked out beautifully for us."In the spring, Pettine told ESPN that Parker served as his eyes in the coaches' booth when they were together in Green Bay."There were certain things I wanted from him that would be hard to see from the sideline, and he was always good with those things," Pettine said in the spring. "He was good at 'What can we do?' and 'What can't we do?' Again, he was a QC with us, but he definitely had my ear."The Cowboys have a relatively young defensive staff. Defensive pass game coordinator Derrick Ansley has the most NFL experience on the staff at seven years. Inside and outside linebacker coaches Scott Symons and Chidera Uzo-Diribe are in their first years in the NFL.Beyond Schottenheimer and Parker, Pettine coached with defensive line coach Marcus Dixon in Minnesota and was with defensive tackle Kenny Clark and edge rusher Rashan Gary in Green Bay."When you bring someone into this role, you want it to be someone that the coordinator, the head coach trusts because otherwise I could put two people in a room and say, 'OK, well he's in charge, but I want you to give him feedback,' and if they don't have any relationship, then how are they going to ever get anything done?" Schottenheimer said. "That doesn't help anybody. So that's how it started, and Pett was excited about retirement. He's been doing this a long time, and as we've been talking about this over the past couple weeks, it began to make more sense for him."The addition of Pettine was just part of the news for a beleaguered defense. The defensive players held a meeting Monday to discuss the issues that have cropped up thus far."We're just looking ourselves in the mirror, putting what we wanted our standard to be," linebacker DeMarvion Overshown said. "We put that on the board and we went by bullet point, bullet point: Are we holding up to this? Are we being this? As a unit, how can we get closer? What is it? Just hearing from all of us. So it really wasn't like a fire drill conversation. It was more so, 'What can I do to help you? What do I expect from you on Sundays or even Monday walkthroughs?' We got to talk to each other like that because the ship is only going to go as far as the weakest person on the boat. So as long as we all in this together, I think we're going to be great."
